Leg-supporting -and-retaining device attachable to an elevatable legrest of a wheel chair

ABSTRACT

A device readily attaches to an elevatable legrest of a wheel chair for supporting and retaining the leg of an individual sitting in the wheel chair upon the legrest. The device is composed of a single sheet of resilient material configured at one end into a clamp for detachably clamping the device to the elevatable legrest and configured at the other end into a support for releasably supporting and retaining the leg upon the legrest when the legrest is at any desired elevation.

United States Patent [191 Sickels 5 4 LEG-SUPPORTING-AND-RETA1NING DEVICE ATTACHABLE TO AN ELEVATABLE LEGREST OF A WHEEL CHAIR Inventor: Nancy E. Sickels, 408 N. Midland Ave., Nyack, NY. 10960 Filed: Dec. 1, 1972 Appl. N0.: 311,360

US. Cl. 297/427, 297/250 Int. Cl. A47 7/50 Field of Search 297/423, 427, 429, 250,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/1933 Hardester 297/252 6/1959 Soueie 297/427 UX 51 Feb. 4, 1975 3,189,384 6/1965 Bliss. 297/427 3,376,067 4/1968 Kernes 297/429 3,639,929 2/1972 lchise i i 297/427 3,679,262 7/1972 Slavitt 297/427 Primary Examiner-Casmir A. Nunberg Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Bruce L. Adams [57] ABSTRACT A device readily attaches to an elevatable legrest of a wheel chair for supporting and retaining the leg of an individual sitting in the wheel chair upon the legrest. The device is composed of a single sheet of resilient material configured at one end into a clamp for detachably clamping the device to the elevatable legrest and configured at the other end into a support for releasably supporting and retaining the leg upon the legrest when the legrest is at any desired elevation.

11 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEU FEB 4|975 SHEET 10F 2 LEG-SUPPORTING-AND-RETAINING DEVICE ATTACHABLE TO AN ELEVATABLE LEGREST OF A WHEEL CHAIR The present invention relates generally to a wheel chair accessory and more particularly, pertains to a device attachable to an elevatable legrest ofa wheelchair for supporting and retaining the leg of a person sitting in the wheel chair upon the legrest.

There are numerous ailments and conditions which require that a persons leg be elevated, among which are casted fractures, knee fusions, diseases or injuries with coexisting swelling, such as diabetic ulcers, peripheral vascular diseases, infected wounds, traumatic injuries, some cardiac conditions, arthritis and paralysis. To meet this need, most wheel chairs currently being manufactured have an elevatable legrest for supporting the affected leg in any desired elevated position. Unfortunately, there are no devices available which may be readily attached to an elevatable legrest to safely and effectively support thereupon the affected leg and as a consequence, the person sitting in the wheel chair often uncontrollably or involuntarily moves his leg inwardly causing it to fall off the elevated legrest onto the floor frequently further aggravating the condition of leg. This problem is particularly acute in hospitals and nursing homes where many patients and invalids are confined to wheel chairs and the harm resulting from the injured leg striking the floor is often quite serious.

At the present time, a person sitting in a wheel chair must either voluntarily and consciously maintain his leg upon the legrest or the leg must be tied or otherwise secured to the legrest to prevent it from falling off. The former method of relying upon the individuals own control is unsatisfactory since oftentimes the person is unable to maintain his leg upon the legrest because of weakness, pain, the effects of medication, sudden movements of the wheel chair, etc., with the attendant result that the affected leg involuntarily slips off the legrest.

Moreover, if the leg is in a cast, the weight of the cast along with its unwieldy construction require a great amount of effort by the individual to maintain his leg upon the legrest, and if it should fall off, its greater weight increases the possibility and severity of further injury.

The latter method of tying the leg to the legrest is also disadvantageous for many reasons. Usually gauze or some similar makeshift material is used to secure the leg to the elevated legrest. If the leg is tied too tightly to the legrest, circulation through the leg is impaired and in extreme situations when the leg is tied excessively tight, the leg is actually abraded. This condition is further aggravated when the patients circulation is already poor and in fact one of the principal reasons for elevating the leg in the first place is to aid the circulation. If the leg is tied too loosely, the tie tends to loosen and slip whereupon frequent retying is necessary. In addition, the leg must be untied from the legrest whenever the patient is transferred to a bed, toilet or other destination and such consumes the time of a nurse or other staff member whose time could otherwise be utilized more valuably.

Frequently, a pillow is placed beneath the patients leg to comfort the leg and help support it. This further complicates the tieing process since the pillow has a tendency to slide off the legrest due to minor movements of the leg and hence the leg must be tied on more tightly and more care must be exercised in such situations. In addition, the conventional legrest panel is usually no larger than 5 X 10 inches and therefore considerable care must be taken when placing the pillow upon the legrest panel to insure that same will not fall off when the patient adjusts the positions of the leg.

Another disadvantage of tying the leg to the legrest is that the tieing on process consumes a good portion of time. The nurse or other staff member must first obtain the tying gauze from the supply room or dressing cart and then obtain a pillow from the linen storage area. Pillows are usually scarce and hard to locate and as a practical matter, an undue amount of time is spent in locating a pillow or the comfort of the patient is sacrificed and the leg is. tied directly upon the legrest. Then the nurse must raise the patients leg with one hand and carefully place the pillow upon the legrest with the other hand. As mentioned above, if the patient has a cast upon his leg, such greatly increases the weight that the nurse must lift. Then the nurse must stabilize and hold the leg, pillow and legrest in place while reaching under the assemblage with the gauze and then wrap the gauze about the assemblage several times and tie same in place. After all this work, it is then frequently necessary to readjust the pillow which tends to slide off the legrest in response to movements of the patients leg.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a device for safely, comfortably and securely supporting and retaining the leg of a patient upon an elevatable legrest of a wheel chair.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a device which is easily attachable to and detachable from conventional wheel chairs having elevatable legrests and which coacts with the legrest of the wheel chair to support and retain the patients leg upon the legrest.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device which may be interchangeably attached to either the left side or right side of a wheel chair without the necessity of modifying the device in any manner for supporting and retaining the patients leg upon the wheel chair legrest.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a leg supporting and retaining device which is easy to clean and therefore is particularly suitable for use in proximity to infected areas of the leg.

The above and other objects of the present invention are carried out by a device composed of a single sheet of resilient material configured at one end into clamping means for releasably clamping the device to a wheel chair and configured at the other end into retaining means for retaining the leg of the patient sitting in the wheel chair upon the wheel chair legrest. The clamping means comprises an arcuate end portion of the resilient sheet having a generally C-shaped cross-section and the retaining means comprises another arcuate end portion of the resilient sheet having a generally L-shaped crosssection and the two end portions are interconnected by a substantially flat body portion of the sheet.

Having in mind the above and other objects that will be evident from an understanding of the disclosure, the present invention comprises the construction and arrangement of parts as illustrated in the presently preferred embodiment of the invention which is hereinafter set forth in sufficient detail to enable those persons skilled in the art to clearly understand the function, operation, construction and advantages of it when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters denote like parts in the various views and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the leg supporting and retaining device;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the leg supporting and retaining device attached to an elevated legrest of a wheel chair;

FIG. 3 is another view of the leg supporting and retaining device attached to the elevatable legrest of the wheel chair;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the leg supporting and retaining device during use; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the leg supporting and retaining device taken along the line V-V in FIG. 1.

As seen in FIGS. 1 and 5, the leg supporting and retaining device comprises a unitary piece of sheet material having a central, substantially flat body portion 12 terminating at one end in a minor curved portion 14 and terminating at the other end in a major curved portion 16. The minor curved portion 14 comprises clamping means for releasably and detachably clamping the device to a legrest of a wheel chair and the major curved portion 16 comprises retaining means for retaining the leg of a person sitting in the wheel chair upon the flat body portion 12.

The clamping means 14 is configured and dimensioned to engage with a tubular frame portion of the wheel chair legrest. As seen in FIGS. 2-4, a wheelchair 20 is equipped with an elevatable legrest comprising a legrest panel 22 fastened to a tubular member 23. The upper end of the tubular member 23 is mounted for pivotal movement about a pin 27 attached to the upper portion of a curved tubular member 28 and the lower end of the tubular member 28 is connected to a yoke member 29 suitably dimensioned to cradle therein the tubular member 23 at a location intermediate its ends. The tubular member 28 is connected to a tubular member 30 which constitutes a frame portion of the wheel chair. By such a construction, the tubular member 23 and the largest panel 32 are pivoted together as a single unit to effect elevation of the legrest. A conventional footrest including a footrest panel 24 is affixed to the lower end of the tubular member 23.

The wheel chair is also provided with suitable means for releasably locking the legrest in any desired elevated position and such a locking mechanism has been shown in simplified form in the drawings for the sake of clarity and such does not comprise of the present invention. For the same reasons, the details of the wheel chair have not been shown since they are not pertinent to the present invention and the leg supporting and retaining device according to the invention comprises a wheel chair accessory useable with any type of conventional wheel chair having an elevatable legrest. I

In order to attach the leg supporting and retaining device to the legrest, the device is simply orientated relative to the legrest to the position shown in FIG. 3 and then the clamping portion 14 is inserted over and clamped onto the tubular member 23. Due to the resiliency of the clamping portion 14, the narrow constricted portion resiliently deforms and enlarges to allow the tubular member 23 to pass therethrough whereupon the tubular member abuts against the innermost portion of the arcuate portion 14 along substantially the entire width of the sheet. The constricted portion 15 immediately closes after passing over the tubular member 23 due to the resiliency of the sheet material whereby the leg supporting and retaining device is quickly and simply attached to the legrest. In case the patient is sitting in the wheel chair with his affected leg resting on the elevated legrest panel 22, the leg is first raised an inch or two from the legrest panel afterwhich the device 10 is inserted between both legs of the patient and is moved between the affected leg and the legrest in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3 until the clamping portion 14 clears the tubular member 23 and then the device is retracted in the direction of arrow B to engage the clamping portion with the legrest.

As seen in FIG. 3, the leg supporting and retaining device is attached to the tubular member 23 in such a manner that a portion of the device overlies and rests upon a portion of the legrest panel 22. By this technique, the device is prevented from turning about the tubular member 23 and is effectively maintained in the position shown in FIGS. 2 4. The device may be positioned at any desired axial position along the tubular member 23 provided the device overlies and is supported upon some portion of the legrest panel 22 since the latter prevents the device from turning about the tubular member 23. The clamping portion 14 may also be provided with suitable slots to accommodate any bolts which may be used to secure the legrest panel to the tubular member.

During use of the leg supporting and retaining device, the patients leg rests within the major concave arcuate portion 16, as shown in FIG. 4, which shows the device attached to the right legrest of a wheel chair to accordingly support and retain the right leg of the patient upon the legrest. The calf portion of the leg rests upon the legrest panel 22 in the conventional manner and the lowermost portion of the leg betweeen the calf and ankel rests upon the body portion 12 of the leg supporting and retaining device.

The retaining means 16 is configured as shown in the drawings such that it extends outwardly from the legrest to an extent sufficient to block and prevent lateral inward movement of the leg beyond a limited extent along the legrest panel thereby retaining the leg thereupon. If for any reason the patient attempts to move his right leg inwardly, the leg will only be able to move a limited extent after which it abuts against the curved portion 16 which will prevent the leg from further moving inwardly and sliding off the legrest panel 22 and onto the floor. Thus it may be appreciated that the leg supporting and retaining device of the present invention safely supports and retains the leg upon the legrest.

Though the leg support device has been shown in conjunction with the right elevatable legrest of the wheel chair, it is understood that the device may be similarly used in conjunction with the left elevatable legrest. This interchangeability is another desirable feature of the present invention and enables a single device to be alternatively used to support either the left leg or right leg of the patient without the necessity of modifying the device in any manner.

As seen in FIG. 5, the body portion 12 has a flat planar shape and terminates at one end in the minor arcuate clamping portion 14 and terminates at the other end in the major arcuate retaining portion 16. The

minor arcuate portion 14 extends outwardly and arcuately from one side of the body portion 12 and the major arcuate portion 16 extends outwardly and arcuately from the other side of the body portion 12. The entire support device is preferably constructed from a single rectangular sheet of plastic material and may, for example, be dimensioned to be inches wide and 16 inches long. The length of the major arcuate portion AB is approximately 6 inches, that of the minor arcuate portion CD is approximately 3 inches, and that of the body portion BC is approximately 7 inches. The distance FG defining the maximum extent of the arcuate clamping portion is preferably about inches to permit same to clamp around standard-sized legrest tubes and the distance ED defining the length of the constricted portion is about 9/16 inches. The sheet material has sufficient resiliency to enable the end tip 14a to resiliently deform and bend outwardly away from the body portion 12 thereby enabling the clamping portion 14 to fit around the tubular member of the legrest.

Any suitable plastic material or even thin sheet metal material may be used. For example, polyvinyl chloride, high density polyethylene, polycarbonate such as LEXAN, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styreme (ABS resin), or any other easily moldable thermoplastic material possessing sufficient resiliency and strength may be used and the device may be either molded into the desired configuration or rectangular sheets of the material may be worked into the necessary configuration.

The invention has been described in conjunction with one particular embodiment and it is understood that obvious modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A device attachable to an elevatable legrest of a wheel chair for retaining the leg of a person sitting in the wheel chair upon the legrest comprising: a body portion; clamping means connected to said body portion for releasably clamping same to an elevatable legrest ofa wheel chair during use of the device; and retaining means connected to said body portion for retaining the leg of a person sitting in the wheel chair upon the elevatable legrest by preventing lateral inward movement of the leg; the device being composed of a single sheet of resilient material configured at one end into said clamping means and configured at the other end into said retaining means; and wherein said clamping means comprises an arcuate end portion of said sheet and said retaining means comprises another arcuate end portion of said sheet and wherein said body portion is interposed between and interconnects said arcuate end portions; whereby the device prevents the persons leg from falling off the elevatable legrest.

2. A device according to claim 1; wherein said arcuate end portion comprising said clamping means has a generally C-shaped cross-section and wherein said arcuate end portion comprising said retaining means has a generally L-shaped cross-section.

3. In combination: a wheel chair having an elevatable legrest for supporting thereon the leg of a person sitting in said wheel chair; and a device detachably connected to said elevatable legrest and cooperarive therewith to retain the leg of a person sitting in the wheel chair upon said legrest by preventing lateral inward movement of the leg beyond a limited extent along said legrest, said device including retaining means extending outwardly from said legrest to an extent sufficient to block and prevent lateral inward movement of the leg beyond a limited extent along said legrest thereby retaining the leg upon said legrest.

4. A combination according to claim 3; wherein said device further comprises a body portion connected to said retaining means and overlying a portion of said legrest such that said device rests upon said legrest, and clamping means connected to said body portion releasably clamping same to said elevatable legrest.

5. A combination according to claim 3; wherein said elevatable legrest includes an elevatable tubular member, and a legrest panel connected to said tubular member for supporting and resting thereon the leg of the person sitting in said wheel chair; and wherein said device comprises a body portion connected to said retaining means, and clamping means connected to said body portion releasably clamping same to said tubular member in a position wherein said body portion overlies and rests upon at least a portion of said legrest panel such that said device rests upon said legrest.

6. A combination according to claim 5; wherein said device comprises a single sheet of resilient material configured at one end into said clamping means and configured at the other end into said retaining means.

7. A combination according to claim 6; wherein said clamping means comprises an arcuate end portion of said sheet and said retaining means comprises another arcuate end portion of said sheet and wherein said body portion is interposed between and interconnects said arcuate end portions.

8. A device attachable to an elevatable legrest of a wheel chair for retaining the leg of a person sitting in the wheel chair upon the legrest comprising: abody portion; clamping means connected to said body portion for releasably clamping same to an elevatable legrest ofa wheel chair during use ofthe device; and retaining means connected to said body portion and configured to extend outwardly from the legrest when the device is clamped thereon to an extent sufficient to limit the extent of lateral inward movement of the leg of a person sitting in the wheel chair along the legrest thereby retaining the leg upon the elevatable legrest.

9. A device according to claim 8; wherein said clamping means comprises a resilient clamp resiliently deformable around a portion of the elevatable legrest to releasably clamp the device thereto.

10. A device according to claim 8; wherein the device comprises a single sheet of resilient material configured at one end into said clamping means and configured at the other end into said retaining means.

11. A device according to claim 10; wherein said clamping means comprises an arcuate end 'portion of said sheet and said retaining means comprises another arcuate end portion of said sheet and wherein said body portion is interposed between and interconnects said arcuate end portions. 

1. A device attachable to an elevatable legrest of a wheel chair for retaining the leg of a person sitting in the wheel chair upon the legrest comprising: a body portion; clamping means connected to said body portion for releasably clamping same to an elevatable legrest of a wheel chair during use of the device; and retaining means connected to said body portion for retaining the leg of a person sitting in the wheel chair upon the elevatable legrest by preventing lateral inward movement of the leg; the device being composed of a single sheet of resilient material configured at one end into said clamping means and configured at the other end into said retaining means; and wherein said clamping means comprises an arcuate end portion of said sheet and said retaining means comprises another arcuate end portion of said sheet and wherein said body portion is interposed between and interconnects said arcuate end portions; whereby the device prevents the person''s leg from falling off the elevatable legrest.
 2. A device according to claim 1; wherein said arcuate end portion comprising said clamping means has a generally C-shaped cross-section and wherein said arcuate end portion comprising said retaining means has a generally L-shaped cross-section.
 3. In combination: a wheel chair having an elevatable legrest for supporting thereon the leg of a person sitting in said wheel chair; and a device detachably connected to said elevatable legrest and cooperarive therewith to retain the leg of a person sitting in the wheel chair upon said legrest by preventing lateral inward movement of the leg beyond a limited extent along said legrest, said device including retaining means extending outwardly from said legrest to an extent sufficient to block and prevent lateral inward movement of the leg beyond a limited extent along said legrest thereby retaining the leg upon said legrest.
 4. A combination according to claim 3; wherein said device further comprises a body portion connected to said retaining means and overlying a portion of said legrest such that said device rests upon said legrest, and clamping means connected to said body portion releasably clamping same to said elevatable legrest.
 5. A combination according to claim 3; wherein said elevatable legrest includes an elevatable tubular member, and a legrest panel connected to said tubular member for supporting and resting thereon the leg of the person sitting in said wheel chair; and wherein said device comprises a body portion connected to said retaining means, and clamping means connected to said body portion releasably clamping same to said tubular member in a position wherein said body portion overlies and rests upon at least a portion of said legrest panel such that said device rests upon said legrest.
 6. A combination according to claim 5; wherein said device comprises a single sheet of resilient material configured at one end into said clamping means and configured at the other end into said retaining means.
 7. A combination according to claim 6; wherein said clamping means comprises an arcuate end portion of said sheet and said retaining means comprises another arcuate end portion of said sheet and wherein said body poRtion is interposed between and interconnects said arcuate end portions.
 8. A device attachable to an elevatable legrest of a wheel chair for retaining the leg of a person sitting in the wheel chair upon the legrest comprising: a body portion; clamping means connected to said body portion for releasably clamping same to an elevatable legrest of a wheel chair during use of the device; and retaining means connected to said body portion and configured to extend outwardly from the legrest when the device is clamped thereon to an extent sufficient to limit the extent of lateral inward movement of the leg of a person sitting in the wheel chair along the legrest thereby retaining the leg upon the elevatable legrest.
 9. A device according to claim 8; wherein said clamping means comprises a resilient clamp resiliently deformable around a portion of the elevatable legrest to releasably clamp the device thereto.
 10. A device according to claim 8; wherein the device comprises a single sheet of resilient material configured at one end into said clamping means and configured at the other end into said retaining means.
 11. A device according to claim 10; wherein said clamping means comprises an arcuate end portion of said sheet and said retaining means comprises another arcuate end portion of said sheet and wherein said body portion is interposed between and interconnects said arcuate end portions. 